GREVE-IN-CHIANTI is a township (‘comune’) in the Chianti Classico DOCG region of Tuscany. Greve encompasses the sub-zone of Panzano-in-Chianti, a hotbed of organic winegrowing. The township covers a surface area of 65 square miles (170 square kilometres). Alessandro Masnaghetti (2018) says that despite being crossed by the northernmost part of the Chianti mountains, Greve has a less ‘extreme configuration’ and character’ compared to Radda in Chianti and many parts of Gaiole in Chianti. Partly this is due to ‘a significant percentage’ of its vineyard extending along the Greve river–which runs in a north-south direction valley–and the two opposing hillsides the river has created. As Sebastiano Capponni of Villa Calcinaia says ‘the Greve river divides its valley in two sides whose soils greatly differ from one another.’

VINEYARD AREA | 2014 1,205.39 hectares representing 18.61% of Chianti Classico’s total vineyard area of 6,476.66 hectares, making it Chianti Classico’s second biggest vineyard township after Castellina in Chianti (Source: Enoproject, Franco Bernabei).

Sebastiano Capponni of Villa Calcinaia says ‘the right bank of the Greve is characterized by the mountain range known as “Monti del Chianti” and the soil there comprises prevailingly sandstone and sand formed by the break-up of the bedrock of these mountains.’

Alessandro Masnaghetti (2018) says compared to the western side of the Greve river valley, they enjoy warmer exposures towards the west and south, beginning at Vignamaggio, at the valley’s narrowest point, and terminating at Greti, where the hills are more open and rolling. Masnaghetti says this part of the the zone could be considered to continue further north and include the Nozzole, La Madonnina and Chiocchio zones as well, which geographically remain part of the Greve river valley but whose clay-rich soils resemble the northern sector areas of Strada, Presura, and Castel Ruggero, which is why he classifies them all as being in the ‘Northern Sector’ of the township. The northern sector he says is completed by the addition of ‘the rather isolated’ area of San Polo in Chianti on Greve’s northern boundary, where the Ema river valley narrows and where average altitudes are higher that in the Strada-in-Chianti zone.

An even greater difference can be noted, Masnaghetti says, in the case of Lucolena and Dudda, whose vineyards extend along two small valleys which join one another and which wedge their way into the eastern side of the Monti del Chianti. Altitude and aspect combine to make this area a cooler, later ripening area. The soils are reddish brown in colour, particularly around Castello di Querceto, he says.

GREVE RIVER VALLEY – LEFT (WEST) BANK

Sebastiano Capponni of Villa Calcinaia says the left bank of the Greve, where Villa Calcinaia stands, ‘is of Eocene origin and calcareous clay is the predominant element in these parts.’ Alessandro Masnaghetti (2018) says vineyards on the western (left bank) of the Greve river have an east, southeast aspect. Vineyard zones on the western (left bank) include Montefioralle, Calcinaia-Viticcio, Verrazzano and Vicchiomaggio, says Masnaghetti (2018).